Looking to pick up something to extend my reach a bit so to say. I know this is a rookie question, but what are the advantages/disadvantages and/or differences between : <BR>Canon Extension Tube EF 25 II <BR>EF 1.4x II Extender <BR>Thanks!

Pretty sure the EF 25 II extension tub is for macro work, if your looking to extend your reach the EF 1.4x II is for telephoto, and incresses your focal lenght by a power of 1.4. Example if your shooting with a 70-200 2.8, your lenght becomes a 98-280, but you lose some stops. Maybe someone could explain it better but that's the general idea.

Randy - <BR>That's what I was thinking, but everything I find is really fuzzy on the subject, as many people talk about magnification from the extension tube, just confuses me that's all

You will lose far away focus and increase close-up magnification with <b>extension tubes</b>. Image quality really doesn't change as it is literally a tube, no lens elements, just air. <BR> <BR>You will <i>"extend your reach"</i> with <b>tele-extender</b> by the multiplier (1.4 makes 100 into 140, etc). You will typically lose one stop with 1.4X and 2 stops with 2.0X, also lose some sharpness/correctness. I think this is what you are looking for. <BR> <BR>Decent acticle on tele-extenders: <BR> <BR><a href="http://www.bobatkins.com/photography/reviews/tcs.html" target="_blank">http://www.bobatkins.com/photography/reviews/tcs.html</a> <BR> <BR>BTW - both will increase effective magnification. <BR> <BR>(Message edited by tdeneka on March 30, 2009)

All lenses have an MFD (minimum focusing distance) on out to infinity (which distance changes from lens to lens as well). <BR> <BR>An extension tube will decrease the MFD and infinity focus distances where as an extender will increase both. <BR> <BR>Sounds like you need an extender. <BR> <BR>BTW extenders are used all the time for macro in combination with extension tubes but a better setup is a closeup lens which screws onto your lens like a filter. This shot was taken with my 70-200, a 25mm tube and a Nikon 6T closeup lens. <BR> <BR> <BR> <BR><img src="http://www.wakeworld.com/MB/Discus/messages/87667/682933.jpg" alt="Upload">